The 2007 CES has come and gone. Many had
predicted disaster because of the change in venue from the Alexis Park
Hotel, where it had been for a decade, to the Venetian Hotel. Depending
upon who you talked to, the Venetian was either a total success or a
total disaster. One manufacturer arrived in town and immediately went to
his room. Waiting for him in his room were all of the crates and boxes
that he had shipped ahead. Everything was unpacked, set up, and fine
tuned by the next day. He thought his room sounded the best it ever had.
This he attributed to the concrete floors and walls as opposed the
flexible wooden floors of the Alexis Park. I had to agree with him, his
room sounded the best that I had ever heard it. With lots of foot
traffic over the four show days, this manufacturer had a great show and
could not wait to come back next year. On the other side of the coin,
another manufacturer who usually has a very good sounding room, had
opted for one of the larger rooms created by partitioning off one of the
ballrooms. These ballrooms, which were on three floors, were a long,
long walk from the tower hotel rooms. There was no signs to direct CES
attendees to these rooms. As a consequence foot traffic was very low.
You could have shot a cannon double loaded with grape shot down the
corridors and hallways and not hit a single person on the day that I
visited this section. Even worse, the partitions that separated the
ballrooms into smaller rooms had virtually no sound absorbing
capabilities. If the stereo was playing loud in one room, it drowned out
the sound in the surrounding rooms. Several of the exhibitors that I
talked to had given up trying to play any music in their rooms. Not able
to play music and very low foot traffic—this was a total disaster. So
the Venetian was either the best of worlds or the worst of worlds.

The experience at T.H.E. SHOW, the
alternative high end show, located at the St. Tropez Hotel was very
different. The rooms are close together so you don't have to walk miles
and miles. Most of the exhibits were on the ground floor so not much
stair climbing and no 20 minute waits for the elevator like at the
Venetian. The only drawback to the St. Tropez is that it is no longer
within walking distance of the CES high-end rooms. The Alexis Park and
the St. Tropez are next door to each other. Thus, in the past it was
very easy to walk back and forth between the two venues. This year it
was necessary to take the free shuttle between the two venues.
Unfortunately, due to heavy CES traffic and road construction, the
shuttle ride the first day could take up to an hour. However, the
shuttle drivers learned to use back streets, alleys and to drive through
parking lots to keep from being stuck in traffic. By the last day, the
shuttle run in both directions was running 7-10 minutes except late in
the day during rush hour. Despite the shuttle bus off drop-off point
being right next to the Venetian, it was still a very long walk into the
Venetian, then a long walk all the way across the casino floor to get to
the elevators. The Venetian is cleverly designed. Once you are inside,
it takes a lot of effort and time to get to the exits and leave. They
want you to spend your money there. Because of the time and effort
required to go between the venues, foot traffic at the T.H.E. SHOW was
less than last year. In addition, when people did come from the Venetian
to the St. Tropez, their time was limited so they tended to visit the
rooms of known manufacturers or rooms with hot products. The exhibitors
from relatively unknown companies complained about the lack of foot
traffic. The established manufacturers, however, said the foot traffic
was very good and that they were very pleased with the venue. Overall,
my subjective opinion was that there was a higher percentage of good
sounding rooms at the St. Tropez than at the Venetian.

So with that background, on to a list of
what I found to be the better sounding rooms. However, first the
standard caveat. I did not get to all of the rooms at either the
Venetian or the St. Tropez. Some rooms were too crowded every time I
stopped by. I was not able to play my own music in some rooms. If I can
not hear my own music, I cannot form an opinion regarding the sound. And
in some rooms they played the music too LOUD, so I did not go in. As I
met friends and colleagues in the hallways we did exchange notes on
which rooms had excellent sound. I tried to visit all of the recommended
rooms.

The rooms that I found to have excellent
sound, in no particular order:

Nola (Accent Speaker Technology) and
Western Electric

The Nola Speakers being demoed were the
Viper Reference ($12,000). Upstream was a Western Electric CD Player
($8500), a Conrad Johnson Art 2 preamp and the Western Electric Type
97-A monoblock amps ($85,000). Everything was connected with Nordost
cabling. The sound was very spacious and musical. I suspect that the
rows of 300B vacuum tubes in the amps had something to do with the
sound.

Herron Audio

As usual, everything in the Herron room was
made by Herron: VTSP-2 preamp ($4995), M1 monoblock amps ($6850), VTPH-2
phono stage ($3650), interconnects ($225 per 1m pair) and loudspeakers.
The only gear that was not Herron were the VPI HRX turntable with 12.7
tonearm, the AT OC9/II cartridge and the speaker cables. Keith Herron is
still working on his loudspeaker design. This iteration of his design
was much smaller than previous prototypes that he has shown. Also, there
were no separate subwoofers this time. The Herron VTPH-2 phono stage
that I have heard as prototypes at previous shows is now in production.
In addition, Keith had a little box that was a reverse RIAA; i.e. if you
input a signal from a CD player, the box rolls off the lows and
accentuates the highs just as is done when making vinyl records. This
signal is then fed into a phono stage that restores the signal to
normal. These types of boxes, which are available from a number of
manufacturers, are usually used to burn-in a new phono stage. However,
Keith found that the music from his highly modded Philips CD player
sounded better if it was run through the Reverse RIAA box and then
through the new phono stage and then into the preamp rather than being
input directly into the preamp. Keith did an A-B comparison for me and
later for some friends of mine. We all heard an improvement when the
signal was put through the reverse RIAA box and then through the phono
stage. This, of course, is counter-intuitive. Putting more electronics
in the signal path should make the sound worse, not better. Keith is
going to do additional experimentation to see what is happening and why.
The sound in the Herron room was detailed and very musical. A number of
people commented to me that they thought the Herron room was the best
sounding room that they had visited at either the Venetian or the St.
Tropez. It was certainly in my top three.

Aurum Acoustics

Aurum sells a complete, captive system. This
means for one price you get a combination CD player/preamp, two
three-way speakers, six amps and all of the necessary cabling for a
price of around $46,000. The six amps are built into one piece of
equipment: four single ended triode 300B amps and two 100w solid state
amps. The solid state amps drive the two woofers and the four 300B SETs
drive the two midrange and two tweeters. I have heard prototypes of this
system at previous shows and thought they sounded very good. The design
is now finalized and systems have been for sale for almost a year. I
love the sound of the 300B tube. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed listening
to this system so much. It did so many things right that I didn't have
time to listen for weaknesses. Even if you are not in the market for a
complete system, I suggest you give this system a listen to if you ever
get the chance.

Usher Audio

Usher had two rooms. The room that I liked
the most used all Usher equipment: CD-1 CD Player ($800), P-307A preamp
($2280), and R-1-5 amp ($2520). Cabling was JPS Illuminata. I heard the
system first with the small V-601 two-way stand mounted speakers ($700)
and then with the large floor standing BE-10 ($14,400). For $6500, the
system with the V-601 sounded very good. It is a system that many can
afford and which provides a very listenable sound. Its errors are errors
of omission, not commission. Of course the system sounded very different
and much better with the BE-10 - for an extra $13,700 it should. I have
heard the Usher speakers at a number of shows and have been favorably
impressed by their great bang-for-the-buck sound. If you have a Usher
dealer near you, I would definitely give all of the Usher gear a listen.

Lansche Audio

Lansche is a Germany loudspeaker
manufacturer and they were demoing their No. 4.1 floorstanding
loudspeakers ($4500). Upstream was an EMM CDSD transport, a Grimm Audio
CC1 clock cleaner and matrix generator, a Bent Audio TAP-TVC preamp and
an Einstein tube amp. All connected with Stealth cabling. Lanasche uses
the successor to the Corona Ion tweeter. The highs were very nice.
Definitely a company to keep on your short list.

Emerald Physics/Shakti

The Emerald Physics Nemesis CS1 loudspeaker
is very different. Each speaker contains a 1" tweeter, two 8 inch
mid-range drives and three 15 inch woofers—all open baffle. The
cross-over is a 6 channel DSP (digital signal processor). The speakers
are set up to be tri-amped. In this case three ICE amps were used.
Frequency response is 20Hz to 22kHz -3dB. Very good sound—wide and
expansive soundstage, musical and very dynamic. The room had two Shakti
Holographs in the back corners, Shakti Stones on top of the ICE amps,
and Shakti Onlines on the tweeter speaker wires. The A-B demo of the
Holographs showed that the Holographs did improve the sound. DSP
crossovers are the wave of the future.

Symposium Acoustics

Symposium, of Roller-block fame, was demoing
a very large ribbon loudspeaker with subwoofer towers ($65,000). The
ribbons were of Symposium's own design. The system is essentially a
prototype. A much smaller, more affordable speaker ($10,000), is the
ultimate goal. Everyone that I talked to that had visited the room were
highly impressed. Definitely a loudspeaker to keep tabs on.

Studio Electric

Studio is a new company which was demoing
their Type 3 loudspeaker ($6500), along with their own amp (with two
inputs and stepped attenuator $6500). The front end was a Sony Pro CD
player and Benchmark DAC. Very musical, with good detail and sound
staging. This is a company to keep an eye on.

Exemplar/Sentient/Stillpoints

In this room I heard both the Sentient F200A
two way floor standing speakers and the SP-M2 two way monitors. Both
speakers use a Fostex driver, plus tweeter. The source for both speakers
was an Exemplar CD player. The floor standing speaker utilized a Belles
28A preamp and a Belles 150A amp. The monitors utilized a Belles Soloist
3 preamp and a Belles Soloist 5 amp. Both systems had a very natural and
effortless sound. The floor standers could play a little bit lower, but
both speakers sounded very nice.

Fujitsu Ten

The Fujitsu Ten room was demoing their
Eclipse speakers. The source was an off the shelf Denon CD player driven
by a Fujitsu Ten 30 watt per side integrated amp. The speakers are
essentially eyeballs mounted on a short pole. The speakers are single
driver and have no crossover. I heard both the TD510 ($2000 per pair)
and the TD712 ($7000 per pair). Being single drivers in a small oval
shell, neither speaker could go low by itself. Both speakers were
demoed with and without a subwoofer. With the subwoofer, the sound was
full range and seamless. The speakers filled the small room with an
immense sound stage. The music was natural. Imaging was quite good.
Because of their small size I imagine neither speaker would be able to
fill a large room with 110dB of sound. However, in a small room, with
the subwoofer, they should be able to play very loud, though not to rock
concert levels. The TD712 is the better sounding speaker. However, the
TD150 is a bargain at its price. Well worth a listen if you have the
chance.

Audio Note USA

Audio Note had two rooms. One room contained
their entry level (lower priced) equipment: CD 2.1x MkII CD player
($3500), M3 preamp ($6600), Conquest amps ($10,500), and Type J
loudspeakers ($3750). The loudspeakers were placed on top of end
tables in the corners of the room. The sound was very good considering
the absence of room treatment. Very enjoyable sound on which a number of
fellow attendees favorably commented.

Merlin/Joule Electra

The Merlin room has been very impressive the
last few years. This year was the best yet with the latest version of
the Merlin VSM-MXE loudspeakers ($10,500) with battery powered Super BAM
(bass augmentation module), the Joule-Electra VZN-100 Mk 4 mono blocks
($18,000), and
the new Joule-Electra LA-150 Mk 2 preamp ($7950) with Cardas cabling. This combination threw a wide, deep
sound stage, with imaging to die for, and it allowed the heart and soul
of the music to come through. The VSM-MXE speakers are fairly small
floor standing speakers (43" x 8.5" x 9.5"). However, with the BAM their
frequency response is 33Hz-22Khz +/- 2dB. On the Rachmaninoff Paques,
the pounding left hand came through with authority. On the Lifeforce
CD the double basses growled impressively in their lowest octave. Every
CD I played was a joy to listen to. I could very happily live with these
speakers in my listening room.

VMPS Audio

Since I currently own my third pair of VMPS
speakers I must like their sound. This year a new speaker was being
demoed, the RM V60 (RM for ribbon monitor, 60 because each speaker has 6
mid-range ribbon drivers (plus a spiral ribbon tweeter), and V because
the speaker is an open baffle with a 7" front and 22" sides sweeping
back in a V). The V sits on top of a base that includes three 6 ˝"
woofers. The outboard crossover fits in a cutout in the base. External
subwoofer(s) are need to complete the system. Being demoed with the V60
were two of the new VSS (very substantial subs) with 2" thick sides, one
15" driver driven by a built-in 1000 watt solid state amp with
electronic crossover and single-band parametric equalizer, and one 15"
passive radiator. The upstream electronics consisted of a Audience
modded Denon 3910 CD player, the new Spread Spectrum Technologies
Ambrosia preamp, and Atma-sphere MA-2 MkII.3 220 watt OTL monoblocks.
All cabling was by Audience.

I think the V60s are unique in that the back
wave from the mid-range ribbons fires into a reverse horn which can be
completely open, completely closed or anything in between depending on
where in the V you place the supplied foam wedge. This provides a lot of
flexibility in positioning the speaker as well as tuning the speaker to
your room and personal tastes. Also the speaker was done in drop dead
gorgeous rosewood. With their Constant Directivity Wave Guides
concealing most of the ribbons and tweeter, I think these speakers will
have a high acceptance factor with significant-others.

Over the four days I visited the room a
number of times and got to play all of my CDs. The sound was detailed
and musical with pinpoint imaging. I got to play one last CD before they
started to break down the room on Thursday. I played Rammstein, LOUD.
Wow! It is the best I have ever heard that CD and I have played it in
many rooms with equipment costing substantially more. I talked to over
ten attendees about the VMPS room. All were very impressed with not one
bad comment. Looks like Brian Cheney has another winner. The V60 starts
at $8900 and has a number of options regarding wiring, crossovers, caps,
etc. The VSS are $1650 each.